"Freedom, true freedom, will never be free," said Rep. John Lewis as he joined the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) and Howard University at the 150th anniversary of the issuance of the preliminary Emancipation Proclamation.

With the coming of the Civil War, and the staggering casualties it ushered in, death entered the experience of the American people as it never had before -- permanently altering the character of the republic and the psyche of the American people.